26 December 2012

Phillip woke us all up at 7 am. He turned on his room light and discovered his Santa hat filled with gifts and candy. He was yelling and jumping up and down. It was so hilarious! We woke up Amelia, at first she thought it was a school day. Once I handed her the stocking she went all crazy for Christmas. The kids played with their stockings for a while. Santa was crazy and got the kids some voice recorders and warpers. The yelling and yodeling was insane. I woke up Everett. He was one cranky little man. He woke up saying no and continued with the trend until he went down for a nap at 10:30. I got the living room ready and we let the kids in. Pure chaos ensued for the next couple hours. We unwrapped, played, made a mess, and frolicked in the mess. Justin cooked up sausages to accompany pop tarts for breakfast. I got to take a nap first! YES! Best gift ever. Justin eventually crawled into bed after Amelia hit him in the eye with a candy bar while he tried to nap on the couch. I helped the kids put their large cardboard house and space ship together. We spent the next few hours coloring the cardboard and destroying the structures. Phillip went nuts over his new train sets by GeoTrax. He got an airport, Toy Story set, a set from Miekka, and a set that came with the train table. Can't wait to snap it all together in one large setup. Amelia was so cute over the gifts she got us at her school holiday store. Justin's gift was an insulated cup....with a pink crystal growing kit. She insisted that someone made her put the crystals in Justin's bag even thought they were for her. Justin enjoyed the game of pretending to share with her.

We especially enjoyed family phone calls over Skype. Phillip thought Grandpa Call was Santa. He yelled, "Hi Santa!!!" when he saw him over Skype. Phillip helped Justin clear the sidewalks of snow with our snow blower. He was very proud that he helped Dad! I made a lazy dinner of chips and dip. Yum. Guess we are continuing the lazy tradition of skipping the Christmas dinner work in favor for simple. Amelia gave me a nice makeover after dinner. My eyelids were sticking together because she put lip gloss on my eyelids. Strange feeling! Phillip gave himself a makeover with a tube of lipstick. Everett continued with day 4 of nasty teething diarrhea. Poor kid is so miserable. His bottom gums look like swollen gumballs. We went to bed trying to stay warm in negative temperatures. Lazy, cozy, family Christmas days are the best.

Christmas Eve! It was magical! We enjoyed a low key dinner of traditional clam chowder and sourdough bread. The bread took 6 days to sour and make. It was not as delish as I hoped, a little tough. After suggesting we do a Christmas story play, Amelia was all over the idea. She had her outfit picked out in record time. We made Santa cookies then had the play. Everett was the cutest little Joseph ever! Phillip was not too keen on the play idea. He did want his monkey wrapped up as baby Jesus. Innej showed up right after we watched the Mormon Message Nativity scene. Innej brought new Santa jammies for the kids. Amelia hopped into bed asap! She said, "Mom I don't need a hot pack tonight because Santa is coming!" She routinely asks for a hot rice pack to snuggle with before bed. Silly girl. Justin and I got right to work after the kids went to bed. Phillip came out of his room as I carried an armful of gifts into the living room. His eyes light up and grew huge! He ran back into his room stat, snuggled into his blankets and made no further entrances. I was so sick but managed to get it all out and decorated. Santa even left magical footprints on the carpet with all the magical snow that fell Christmas night. Balloons popped up in the tree and Santa even left a cute note. Rudolph would not eat his carrot. He had to get some bum medicine back at the North Pole for skipping out on his veggies.